44-09-29 Farewell Show

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN, DAVID WHITEHOUSE AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

Russell, Vic, Uncle Fletcher and Sade are all at the house but all are getting ready to leave, each going a different direction.

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The episode is a metaphor of the entire series, Vic and Sade, which ended after this show. It had been on the air for 13 consecutive years.

The show would come back to the air in about a year's time but the show would change and would sadly begat some real actors playing parts that we have only imagined in the past.

This final episode to the original 13 year run has a special ending which I have kept as part of the original program. The ending sounds like this: {{{HEAR}}}

Trivia:

+ Russell is all dressed up to go watch the fat men play handball at the YMCA. One wonders why.

+ Sade is going to the Bijou with Mis' Kilgore and Mis' Trogle. Recall that Mis' Kilgore lives near the Stembottoms.

+ It is mentioned for the first time that Vic's lodge meetings are held at the Unity building, downtown.

+ Uncle Fletcher mentions Martin Jordle and notes he is from Sycamore, Illinois. He helped bury Anderson L. McFlutcher, who had got caught between two cyclones.

+ Uncle Fletcher has plans to spend the evening with "jumpy" Mr. Feedburn, who was obviously not so "lost" after all. They plan to: fool with the peanut machine in the inter-urban station (Uncle Fletcher is half-owner), hang around the Butler House Hotel lobby and listen to the drummers talk politics and go down to Chicgao-Alton depot and watch the fast meat train to Kansas City go through.

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44-09-27 Harry Feedburn Missing

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND DAVID WHITEHOUSE

Mr. Feedburn has disappeared (well, he's been gone 5 hours since Rishigan Fishigan last saw him here near the People's Bank Building.)

Uncle Fletcher is in a dither. He's called Vic home from his game of indoor horseshoes and is over at the Gook house. But is it anything more than the usual hubbub? We doubt it.

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People's Bank Building (really!)

In case you haven't noticed, the storyline about Mis' Keller getting married has turned Uncle Fletcher from a funny, odd, story-telling machine into a panties-in-a-wad, pathological, fretting, "normal" soap-opera-like, frantic female character.

Trivia:

+ Uncle Fletcher once again suggests Russell "go down cellar."

+ Russell, Vic and Uncle Fletcher play the "All them states" game, where one mentions 4 to 5 states and another will do the same and this continues until about 20-30 states are mentioned. Big fun? Not so much, but more fun than sorting out all of the boring Mis' Keller-may-or-may-not-be-getting-married business.

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44-09-21 Harry Feedburn Arrives

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN, DAVID WHITEHOUSE AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

Looking "as nice" as he's "ever looked," Uncle Fletcher is decked out to meet the 9:45 pm train which carries Mr. Feedburn. Wasting the time away at the Gook house, both Vic and Sade take small shots at him.

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Perhaps the most insignificant of all episodes, this one seems to go nowhere. It does however, add a piece to the ongoing Mis' Keller-getting-married story.

Trivia:

+ Among the articles of clothing Uncle Fletcher is wearing are a corduroy cap and a leather necktie.

+ We already know that Uncle Fletcher is loaded down with wedding responsibilities; another of them is setting the wedding date! He has not set the date as of this episode.

+ Mr. Feedburn was coming in on the Chicago-Alton train... meaning he was coming from Chicago.

+ Mr. Feedburn is a "well-to-do" man - meaning he's wealthy.

+ Mr. Feedburn is going to share the Bridal Suite room in the Butler House Hotel with Hank Gutstop; a private fee was negotitiated but the Butler House folks will know nothing about him staying at the hotel.

+ Hank Gutstop is inexplicably still working as the house detective at the Butler House.

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44-09-19 Vic to be Best Man

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN, DAVID WHITEHOUSE AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

Uncle Fletcher has dire news for the Gooks and calls Vic to come home from the office early. Upon arrival, Uncle Fletcher tries to give the job of 'best man' of the upcoming wedding of his land lady/Mr. Feedburn to Vic, who wants no part in the wedding ceremony and does not understand why he was dragged home from the office.

Then, Uncle Fletcher really pulls the rabbit out of the hat when he suggests that Mr. Feedburn - who is arriving two weeks prior to the wedding - stay at the Gook house in the interim.

Sade, while not refusing, questions his request in such a way that we know she will eventually refuse.

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Vic and Sade, while trying not to be negative to Uncle Fletcher during his busy time of helping prepare for the wedding, have to be on their guard; for Uncle Fletcher is full of surprises and is trying to brush off some of the responsibilities off on the couple.

Has he bitten off more than he can chew? Why does he care if his land lady gets married? Why did he take oceans of responsibility if he wasn't able to tackle it? Questions better left until another episode because the answers aren't in this one.

Trivia:

+ Russell asks permission to go to the YMCA to watch the fat men play handball; this is the first time I recall either he or Rush asking permission to do that. As a matter of fact, the only things I ever recall the boys needing permission to do anything was for sleeping over at a friend's house and going to the Bijou on a school night (many times.)

+ When Russell arrives at the house, Uncle Fletcher wants Vic, Sade and himself to go to Vic's office at the Consolidated Kitchenware plant so they can be alone. When Vic questions Uncle Fletcher about this asinine suggestion, Sade tells Russell to "Go down cellar." It may not seem that funny to the casual Vic and Sade fan but it struck me as being one of the top 50 or so moments in the show's history; this is because of the way Bernadine Flynn delivers the line (almost a whisper to Russell) and the fact that in a previous episode, Uncle Fletcher tried to shoo Sade and Russell into the cellar to talk business with Vic.

I'm guessing that writer Paul Rhymer was shooed into the cellar in his youth or just has a warped sense of humor. Cellars are no place to congregate and spend time. Imagine the spiders and whatnot down there... Either way, the notion (to me anyway) is hilarious.

Russell, understanding he's "not wanted" during the "big news" suggests, "Why don't I go to the Miller Park lake and jump in? I'd be just about as welcome there..."

+ There are a number of lines in this episode that are funny but only if you have been following the whole "Mis' Keller is getting married" thing. Uncle Fletcher deems it necessary to talk superfluously while speaking about his responsibilities and has been repeating the phrase, "the unbearable alternative" throughout the weeks of this particular storyline. When he says it in this episode, Vic suggests he gets the meme "tattooed to his chest."

+ When talking about the two hotels in town - the Butler House and the Bright Kentucky - Uncle Fletcher says, "One is expensive and one is shabby." While this is true and it's well-known to even the casual Vic and Sade fan that reads Vic and Sade material strewn over the internet (Wikipedia for example.) This is the first time the two hotels have been compared in this exact stereotyping.

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44-09-15 Sade Helps With Ring

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN, DAVID WHITEHOUSE AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

Uncle Fletcher drops by the Gook house after getting a letter from Mr. Harry Feedburn (his landlady's fiancé.) Mr. Feedburn has asked Uncle Fletcher to pick out the wedding ring for him because the town of Yellow Jump, North Dakota, has no jewelery store.

Uncle Fletcher, already under considerable strain from several other responsibilities having to do with the wedding - and not being any kind of an expert on jewelery or taste, wants Sade's help in picking out the ring.

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Fun listening for sure but an episode sadly void of memorable lines.

Trivia:

+ Vic begins the episode by reading a newspaper article about Curtis O'Slooner; he taught mathematics in college and is a man of high intellect. (Sade did not want to hear about him.)

+ Uncle Fletcher states that he can understand horses, tractors, peanut vending machines (he can take one apart and put them back together blindfolded) and he can shim up a railroad track and install ankle bolts and solder grips as quick as any man in the business.

+ Uncle Fletcher mentions that he has been saddled with many wedding responsibilities:

Fletcher in a Pepper and Salt suit

Hire the preacher, take the "honeymoon" for the couple to various Illinois locales, be the 'best man',  pick out the ring and he also learns that he must pick out a 'pepper and salt' suit of good quality for Mr. Feedburn.
 
One thing that Uncle Fletcher did not mention as a responsibility was hiring a sight-seeing guide (Rishigan Fishigan) for the honeymooning couple.

+ Uncle Fletcher shows he's either: not paying attention, is nuts, or has hearing problems when he gets it in his mind that Fred and Ruthie Stembottom are expected over at the Gook house.

SEE THE SCRIPT

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44-09-11 Honeymoon Guide

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN, DAVID WHITEHOUSE AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

Russell [reading]: "3rd Lieutenant Clinton Stanley, his large, square teeth the color of expensive ivory, glittered horsely."

Uncle Fletcher complains that the whole weight of the upcoming wedding of his landlady is on his shoulders. In addtion to everything else he's done, he's consented to be the 'best man' and will also hire a guide for the honeymooning couple: Rishigan Fishigan.

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Vic makes Uncle Fletcher's problems worse by teasing him considerably.

Trivia:

+ Uncle Fletcher refers to the football stadium as the 'football diamond.'

+ Mis' Keller has lived in town 4 years but doesn't know the city well at all. She has never even been to Miller Park, which seems to be the town's biggest attraction.

+ Olive Street was mentioned for the first time.

Russell reads from a 3rd Lieutenant Stanley "story book"... {{{HEAR}}}

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44-09-07 Mysterious Box

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN, DAVID WHITEHOUSE AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

Uncle Fletcher has picked up a wedding gift that he and Vic have combined resources to buy for Mis' Keller and her husband to-be. But Vic isn't crazy about it and when he finds out that the gift came from Pelter Unbleet, he completely nixes the whole idea.

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This is an episode where things are inferred rather than spelled out. It's never said in the episode that Pelter Unbleet is the reason why Vic doesn't like the gift. Neither it is implied that the gift is ugly or gaudy - however, I certainly imagined it was while I was listening.

Sade's name was also going on the gift and we get the impression from other episodes that perhaps Sade is not thrilled with Unbleet. Did Vic actually think ahead and decide Sade would be unhappy with the gift?

Really, we don't know the answers to any of these...

Trivia:

+ Uncle Fletcher tells the story of George McFulfer who was shot with a revolver. He never recognized his wife Dorothy afterwards. He also had an exciting political life that semi-mirrors that of Eugene Parklow.

George's sister Grace could play the cornet backwards.  (It's safe to say writer Paul Rhymer had a thing for cornets, among other oddities.) You might recall that another of Uncle Fletcher's cronies, Sam McWashjag, could also play the cornet backwards.

+ Mis' Keller's first name is Leiota. Mr. Feedburn's first name is Harry.

+ The gift came in a mother-of-pearl box and contained an album of some sort. The album was a plush pink. Whether it was a photo album or not, we just don't know.

+ Uncle Fletcher toys with Vic about the box making the contents seem invaluable; perhaps Vic was let down when the contents were revealed, thus, he was upset. Again, this is something we just don't know.

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44-09-01 Arranging the Honeymoon

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY, BERNARDINE FLYNN AND CLARENCE HARTZELL

We missed it (in a missing episode) but it appears as though Uncle Fletcher's landlady, Mis' Keller, has finally been proposed to and has accepted a marriage invitation from the fellow from Yellow Jump, North Dakota (whose name, we find out, is Mr. Feedburn.)

Meanwhile Uncle Fletcher claims he's been running himself ragged, making train reservations - but not for the happy couple - for himself. He's going to go on a trip so the honeymooning couple can have the house to themselves. He's taking the honeymoon for them!

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The reason for the couple not going on the honeymoon is because Mis' Keller is afraid to leave the 100 chickens she owns and that they both suffer from train sickness.

Trivia:

+ Vic had been playing indoor horseshoes and had beaten Ike Kneesuffer and Charlie Razorscum. In every episode where we've heard the outcome of the indoor horseshoes, Vic has always been the winner or was ahead when he dragged away for some duty at his house.


+ Just as in a previous episode, Uncle Fletcher says "pow pow" instead of "pow-wow."

+ One of the cities that Uncle Fletcher tried to make a train reservation for was Illiopis, Illinois. In the year 2000 census, less than 1000 people lived there.

+ The honeymoon couple plan to see the sites of the town. One of the sites mentioned was the football stadium. This is the first mention that the town had a stadium or a football team.

+ Uncle Fletcher nonchalantly mentions that he will be able to keep his room at Mis' Keller's house. After all of the stress and strain Sade has gone through about Uncle Fletcher possibly moving to the train-busy area of the Bright Kentucky Hotel, he simply casually mentions this.

In the gloom... {{{HEAR}}}

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